Sugar Shot to SpaceNEWS:*Richard has completed refurbishment of the DSS BPS nozzle and Midbulkhead, and completed the Forward Bulkhead assembly. A tool has been made to facilitate installation and removal of the Midbulkhead. Pictures posted in the "DoubleSShot BP - Static Test 2" album.

We are preparing two short motor tests for next month. One will be for testing a more conventional propellant grain geometry and the other to test a replacement for our mid bulkhead delay grain. The machining of all the parts and casting of propellant should be complete in the next couple of weeks. I'll also update here after we do the tests.

*The DSS TM-1 rocket motor was test fired on Saturday May 4th, as scheduled, at the FAR Test Site in the Mojave Desert. Rick Maschek and Paul Avery arrived early Saturday morning to assemble the motor, install it into the horizontal test stand that Rick had fabricated earlier, and to set up video and instrumentation.

TM-1 is a 6” (152mm) N-Class rocket motor configured with two BATES grains, having a total propellant mass of 30 lbs (14 kg). The objective of this test firing was intentionally kept very basic – to test fire a simple motor loaded with 6” BATES grains with ventilated casting tubes (to facilitate pressure equalization around the grain). As such, it was decided not to use the CSD for this test; a simple forward bulkhead was used to close off the motor.

The only instrumentation was an analogue pressure gauge to display chamber pressure, which was to be video recorded. The pyrogen igniter design, however, was a new innovation being tested for the first time.

The motor ignited when the ignition button was depressed. The motor came up to pressure rapidly, emitting a torrent of thick white smoke that spilled along the ground as the motor fired forcefully. The burn appeared to be nominal, with burnout coming approximately 8 seconds later, with the thrust clearly “tailing off” over the latter few seconds. Inspection of the motor indicated that all was nominal, and a good recording of the pressure gauge was obtained. Tear-down of the motor by Paul indicated a lot of combustion slag in the chamber. The cardboard casting tubes fared quite well.

with the addition of a second motor chamber separated by a Delrin mid bulkhead to test our dual pulse motor design using 6" propellant grains equivalent to an O class 6.6" motor with approximately 45 pounds of propellant.

We are still in the process of determining the cause of the anomaly and discussion is taking place on using a non tensional grain geometry to avoid the problem of a cored sugar propellant grain.

Hi Rick, I have been watching the SSTS from the first time that Richard Nakka mentioned it to me. I think it was before the website was up.

Reading some other threads on this board it would seem that there are actually people on this forum that believes what you guys are doing is a trivial matter.

As you have said before you guys are breaking new ground when it comes to just about everything in the SSTS program. A multistage motor in one casing, the largest sugar motor to date and more.

Some time ago I mentioned to Richard that I was thinking about using our version of his RNX epoxy propellant for a Space-Shot. Something like a Glue Shot to Space - GSTS. I'll announce it on this board if we get it started.

I wish your team all the best with what is the most challenging Space-Shot to date.

Hi Rick, I have been watching the SSTS from the first time that Richard Nakka mentioned it to me. I think it was before the website was up.

I volunteered a long time ago to be on the recovery/search team since I have years of experience with sheriff search and rescue in the Mojave Desert and now I wear many hats on this project.

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Reading some other threads on this board it would seem that there are actually people on this forum that believes what you guys are doing is a trivial matter.As you have said before you guys are breaking new ground when it comes to just about everything in the SSTS program. A multistage motor in one casing, the largest sugar motor to date and more.

I must have missed those; if someone thinks that, all I can say is they don't have any experience with experimental rocketry or trying to go where no one has gone before. I helped build enough Nsec of APCP motors to get into space (sub-orbital) and even that would be difficult for an amateur. To my knowledge, only Ky Michaelson did that back in 04 with the Go Fast. Look at all the trys for the Carmack prize to just 100,000', try that with a propellant with an Isp of 135. Sugar Shot is not some wanna-be aerospace company but an exercise in trying something that most think not possible; to show amateurs around the world what their propellant can do; break new ground; inspire our youth and share with everyone what we do along the way.

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Some time ago I mentioned to Richard that I was thinking about using our version of his RNX epoxy propellant for a Space-Shot. Something like a Glue Shot to Space - GSTS. I'll announce it on this board if we get it started.

I think that would be cool, not as hard as taming big sugar motors but still quite an accomplishment if you make it work and I wish you success. I will like to see where you go with it as I think it would make a better propellant than sugar. We discussed what would become of SSTS when we get to space and it seems that was the goal. We did do some sims showing it would be possible for a SSTO (sugar powered rocket to orbit) but it would require 5 stages and a very small payload and over the cost of the N-Prize. If successful with SSTS and we could make it 'reliable' I would like to use it to offer colleges and universities inexpensive sub-orbital rides...in the neighborhood of $2,500/Kg USD.

Would your version of RNX be for your first attempt at getting to space?

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I wish your team all the best with what is the most challenging Space-Shot to date.

yes, RNX has superior mechanical properties to any sugar propellant but it does have one drawback. At an Isp of 120s it is even more challenging than sugar.

Years ago a guy called Pat Bunn started experiments with KNO3, Epoxy and Magnesium. In our experiments we have reached around 150s Isp. This has the potential to become a very widely used propellant. It is expensive though! It uses around 15% per weight Mg. Small motors are fine but when you get to 102mm and larger it adds up fast!

Another advantage of the Mg propellant I call KEM (KNO3, Epoxy, Mg), is the great flame it produces. It is comparable to APCP.

When we attempt a Space Shot it will most likely be with KEM. I do have my suspicions however that it will be a two-stage design with a KEM booster and Hybrid Sustainer.

I've tried twice to get aluminum to burn in KNO3 sugar motors by using AP included into the propellant to initiate combustion, still in experimental stages, once it worked and the second time resulted in CATO using too high a ratio.

And while not specifically for Sugar Shot, I also experiment with APCP for other projects. We recently used three different formulations of AP in a small two grain motor to burn red-white-blue. While the specific intent for this sequence was for the colors, it also helps us develop solid motors that can change their burn profile by successfully bonding different formulations besides differing the grain geometry.